POLITICO London Playbook, presented by BP: May Time — Rajoy Division — Sore heads in Manchester

Good Wednesday morning from Manchester, where the Conservative Party’s annual conference is entering its final day.

SCOOP: One of the lobby’s rising stars, Daily Telegraph Political Correspondent Laura Hughes, has been poached by the Financial Times. Hughes will join the FT’s lobby team in January as a permanent replacement for Kate Allen, who left to cover capital markets earlier this year.

DRIVING THE DAY

MAIN EVENT: Theresa May makes her leader’s speech to the Conservative Party conference this morning. She will attempt to re-engage the country with her vision of Britain, re-unite her party around a program of domestic reform, and restore faith among the Tory grassroots that she is still the right woman for the job. Her most trusted ally, First Secretary of State Damian Green, will tour broadcast studios this morning to sell her message to the nation.

Full house: May will use her speech to announce a new generation of council-house building, the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn and Huff Post’s Paul Waugh reported last night. A No. 10 official told Playbook the story is spot on, while cautioning against using specific figures for how many homes will actually be built.

Come together: May will also urge her squabbling party to unite and “do our duty for Britain” in extracts of the speech released to the media overnight. The PM will admit her government needs to “shape up” and pointedly warn ministers they should focus on improving lives of ordinary people, “not worrying about our job security, but theirs.” Only the Times and the Guardian splash May’s speech, with the rest focusing on Boris Johnson, the postal workers’ strike or the aftermath of the Las Vegas massacre.

Now read this: Deep-dive from POLITICO’s Tom McTague, Annabelle Dickson and Charlie Cooper on the malaise gripping the Conservative Party. Most MPs conclude the 2017 conference has been flat, under-attended and over-shadowed by the maneuvers of Boris Johnson. Policy announcements have so far proved underwhelming and gone largely unnoticed by the wider public. “We cannot get into a bidding war with Corbyn,” a frustrated No. 10 aide tells POLITICO. “We can’t win that.”

Blue rinse: Also well worth a read is this in-depth piece by the Indy’s Joe Watts on Tory struggles to attract younger voters through a Momentum-style movement. “The problem with this kind of thing is that if you make a group and say ‘this is cool,’ it automatically is no longer cool,” one Tory official grumbles to Watts in a rather telling exchange. “We’re not even allowed to use ‘cool’ now — my daughter told me not to. In fact, it’s not even the word anymore, there’s some other word now.”

Not sure this is helping: Andrea Leadsom turned up to the Conservative Home drinks party with her charming elderly mother in tow.

BoJo oh-no: But elsewhere the foreign secretary has caused a greater stir by joking at a fringe last night about the Libyan city of Sirte becoming the next Dubai. “The only thing they’ve got to do is clear the dead bodies,” Johnson laughed. Video here, skip to 23.30. A succession of senior Tories visibly winced as the foreign secretary’s words were related to them at drinks receptions last night. Tory MP Heidi Allen called for him to be sacked. Her colleague Anna Soubry agreed. Johnson got his excuses in on Twitter.

Peer pressure: While neither Allen nor Soubry have ever been fans of Boris, the depth of anger among many Tory MPs towards him should not be underplayed. Playbook has been told to expect fireworks at the 1922 committee meeting of backbench MPs when parliament returns on Monday afternoon. One unnamed Cabinet minister tells Channel 4’s Gary Gibbon that Johnson has the support of barely 30 Tory MPs — adding with satisfaction that members who love him “will never see his name on the ballot paper” in a leadership contest. The Guardian’s Anushka Asthana and Rowena Mason have counted more than half the Cabinet criticizing Johnson either in public or private this week.

Conference weather: ☔️☁️ ☔️ A wet and windy day with outbreaks of heavy rain. You did bring a brolly, right?

What’s that noise? The People’s Assembly is planning a “wall of sound” protest outside the conference center today as Theresa May makes her big speech. Activists have been invited to “bring pots, pans, drums, whistles and megaphones.”

MEANWHILE IN CATALONIA

RAJOY DIVISION: The crisis in Catalonia deepened last night as the region’s government vowed to declare independence within days. A rare televised intervention from King Felipe VI last night did little to heal division after he heaped blame squarely on Catalan separatists. Read all the latest here from POLITICO’s Diego Torres, who raises big question marks over the strategy of Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy.

Democracy in action: The European Parliament has bowed to pressure and will hold a limited debate on the crisis in Strasbourg today. But the session will be restricted to a speech by Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans and short interventions from the political group leaders, my colleague Ryan Heath writes in today’s Brussels Playbook. Heath says we should expect “non-verbal protests in the chamber” from MEPs furious at being silenced.

ICYMI: Watch this extraordinary video of Catalans singing loudly in church to hide the illegal vote-counting taking place at the altar on Sunday night.

LATEST FROM LAS VEGAS

AMERICA ASKS WHY: U.S. law enforcement officials still have no idea why Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old accountant with no criminal record, amassed a huge arsenal of weaponry before massacring dozens of people in Las Vegas. Police last night revealed details of the careful planning that went into the attack, having discovered cameras set up outside Paddock’s hotel room to ensure he would not be taken by surprise. The New York Times has the story.

Who was the gunman? The Washington Post has a full run-down here of what we know about Paddock so far.

The only lead: Appears to be Paddock’s girlfriend Marilou Danley, who was traveling in the Philippines at the time of the killings. Some reports suggest Paddock wired $100,000 to the Philippines in the days before his attack. Danley arrived in the U.S. overnight and was met by federal agents at the airport, according to AP.

BACK IN WESTMINSTER

CREDIT RISK: The mass roll-out of the new Universal Credit benefit system begins in earnest today. The Department for Work and Pensions says UC will now be extended to 50 new job centers a month across the country. The full roll-out — still covering new claimants only — will take around a year. Charities fear long delays in receiving initial UC payments will push thousands more into poverty. Tory MPs are concerned. Ministers insist everything is in hand. Watch this space.

Air time: Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is speaking at an international conference on air pollution at City Hall.

Warmer climes: International Trade Secretary Liam Fox is on a three-day trip to the United Arab Emirates … Africa Minister Rory Stewart is in Botswana.

Bad practice: Health Minister Steve Brine is under fire in the Mirror after a surgery in his own constituency was forced to shut down due to national GP shortages.

**The Annual POLITICO 28 Gala Dinner is coming back to Brussels on Wednesday, December 6, 2017, when we will reveal our list of the 28 people who will shape European life and politics in the upcoming year. We hope you can join us for a memorable evening! Get in touch to discover a range of sponsorship opportunities at our flagship event.**

ICYMI IN MANCHESTER LAST NIGHT

PARTY NIGHT: The Pol Roger flowed at the annual Spectator party last night as the great and the good of the Tory party gathered in an ante-room at the Midland hotel to swap gossip. At least half the Cabinet was in attendance including Amber Rudd, Jeremy Hunt, Sir Michael Fallon, David Davis, Liz Truss, Sajid Javid, David Gauke, Chris Grayling, Greg Clark and Alun Cairns. Other famous faces included Sun Editor Tony Gallagher … ITV Political Editor Robert Peston … Columnists Rachel Johnson, Matthew Parris, Juliet Samuel and Danny Finkelstein … Vote Leave’s Matthew Elliott … BBC presenter Jo Coburn … and Tory rising stars Ruth Davidson and Jacob Rees-Mogg.

BOOZE INTERNATIONAL: The Times party earlier in the evening also had much of the Cabinet in attendance. A highlight was Chief Whip Gavin Williamson swapping spider tales with his opposite number from the Cayman Islands, who somewhat randomly is also at Tory conference. “He showed me pictures of his ‘brown recluse,'” Williamson said in awed tones, before pulling out his phone to shock journalists with pictures of the damage the Caribbean spider can do. Williamson’s tarantula, Cronus, looks friendly by comparison.

SPOTTED: A grinning David Davis arrived at the party and instantly tapped Jacob Rees-Mogg on the shoulder to jokingly ask for a selfie … DD told Playbook he even went along to one of Rees-Mogg’s fringe events yesterday to see what all the fuss is about.

THIS ALSO HAPPENED: The entire crowd stood up and proudly sang Rule, Britannia! when Davis arrived at last night’s Democratic Unionist Party fringe.

LUCK OF THE IRISH: Earlier DUP MPs had been out in force for the Irish Ambassador’s reception. Also spotted were Channel 4’s Michael Crick, ITV’s Robert Peston, Sky News’s Adam Boulton and Channel 5’s Andy Bell. Sun Editor Tony Gallagher and the Irish Times’ London Editor Denis Staunton were also in attendance. Playbook can confirm the Guinness was excellent.

NO COMMENT: Treasury committee chair Nicky Morgan told Playbook she was none the wiser about red-hot rumors sweeping conference that she overheard two mystery Tories sharing an amorous moment in the ladies’ loos. “I didn’t hear a thing!” Morgan protests. “I was just putting some lipstick on. I was very surprised to read it … As was my husband.”

Key line: “I have been to dozens of political conferences in my life and never have I seen a party fasten its hands determinedly over its eyes the way the Conservatives have done in Manchester.”

BEYOND THE M25

From Paris

LIBERTÉ? French President Emmanuel Macron’s liberal credentials are being questioned as he pushes through a slew of tough new anti-terrorism laws, POLITICO’s Nicholas Vinocur reports.

From Lisbon

LEFT TURN: The leader of Portugal’s main center-right opposition party has quit after they suffered their worst ever local election result. Former Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho announced last night he was stepping down after his party’s drubbing at the hands of the governing Socialists. POLITICO’s Paul Ames.

And from D.C.

ART OF THE DEAL: Donald Trump wants to “wound” the Iran nuclear deal but not kill it altogether, POLITICO’s Eliana Johnson reports.

LONDON CALLING

Westminster weather: 🌞 🌞 ☁️ A dry, often sunny day with highs of 16C. Not bad at all.

Good news: Tomorrow’s planned tube strike has been called off after “sufficient progress” — yes, they really used that description — in talks between Aslef and Transport for London. However a separate RMT strike tomorrow affecting Southern rail services as well as Merseyrail, Arriva Rail North and Greater Anglia is set to go ahead.

Silver screen: The BFI London Film Festival opens tonight, with 242 feature films screening at venues across the capital over the next 12 days. There’s a good run-down of what’s on here.

Politicos may like: Two big plays coming to the National Theatre on the South Bank next year. Superstar director Sam Mendes will put on a three-part epic drama about the rise and fall of Lehman Brothers, the Guardian reports. And legendary playwright David Hare has penned a new work about a fictional Labour Party leadership contest. Both open in 2018.

Moving on: Katy Dillon departs the Labour Party’s press office today. Her last day will be spent here in Manchester keeping an eye on Tory conference.

Remembering: Trade union veteran Rodney Bickerstaffe, who died yesterday aged 72. He was a central figure in British public life for two decades from 1981-2001, serving as general-secretary first at the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) and then at Unison. The Mirror’s Kevin Maguire shares memories here.